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Thursday, September 1, 2011

I was very excited when I noticed that Turkey was one of the top visitors to Inspirational Beading in August, and I couldn’t wait to start searching for some gorgeous bead and jewelry inspirations from this wonderfully exotic part of the world.

Turkey is one of the world’s oldest inhabited areas, and has been home to many cultures, including the Hittites, Hattians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and the Ancient Greeks. It is also the home of Ancient Troy, a city that has been considered real, legendary, and back again throughout history. Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul, was once the capital of the Roman Empire, under the name Constantinople, previously called Byzantium.

Due to it’s geographical location, Turkey features a variety of climates and ecosystems that make it the country with the highest variety of plant species in Europe. According to The Garden Lady, “Turkey has an extraordinary degree of biodiversity with almost as many species of wild flowers as the rest of Europe combined; of the over 9000 species so far identified more than 3000 are native to the country, many found nowhere else on earth…”.

Like neighboring Greece, evil eye beads or nazar Boncugu are a common sight in Turkey. These beads are used to ward of the effects of envy and ill wishes, and feature a gorgeous eye design, usually in blue glass.

There are lots of gorgeous beaded pieces on Hungarian blogs. Sadly, Google translate doesn't do a very good job translating Hungarian to English, so I don't reap the benefits they offer. Mandy's done very well with some of them, though (more power to her!!).

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